Paris Olympics broadcasters disagree on AI approach

While the Paris Olympics will be a showcase for generative AI for American audiences, European viewers will see no similar approach, a contrast that reflects how media companies around the world plan to use the technology.

CMCSA.O Comcast NBCUniversal has been digging deep into AI for games broadcast in the U.S., including recreating the voices of legendary sportscasters, while Warner Bros. Discovery's European sports unit WBD.O said the technology was still too young for roles such as sports commentator.

Warner Bros. Discovery, which will broadcast the tournament across Europe on its Max and Discovery+ streaming platforms, received demos from tech companies to translate speech into other languages, but the demos lacked the emotion that accompanies exciting moments in sport," said Scott Young, senior vice president and president of Warner Bros., Discovery Sports Europe. "All of these protests feel like, yes, the words are translated correctly, but they're not translating or explaining the feelings," he said.

For example, when Italian sprinter Marcel Jacobs stunned the world by winning gold in the 100 meters in Tokyo, Italian commentators let out howls of joy, showing a moment of "experts sitting side by side, truly experiencing history," Young said. "It is very hard to automatically generate that.\"

Meanwhile, U.S. audiences will experience AI when they watch the Games on NBC or streaming service Peacock due to a new partnership between NBCUniversal, Google and Team USA.

AI-enhanced Google Map images of the Olympic venues will help viewers get a feel of Paris and NBC\'s hosts will demonstrate how Google AI search can answer questions about the competitions. NBCUniversal will also use generative AI to create personalized daily briefings on Olympic events, narrated by an AI-recreated voice of sports anchor Al Michaels.

The Paris Olympics could generate nearly 7 million different reviews every day, according to NBCUniversal. The media company holds the world’s largest Olympic broadcast rights deal, paying $7.65 billion to air the Games through 2032.

Olympic broadcasting services, which produce neutral coverage that can be used by media companies around the world, are also embracing AI to help them quickly cut large amounts of footage into short highlights, but have previously told Reuters they remain cautious about the risks of deepfakes and “tampering with reality.”

Given how quickly AI capabilities are advancing, it may not be long before European sports fans are getting a better look at the technology. "The real impact this has on us is we probably only have one more Summer Games," Young said.

The next Summer Games will be in Los Angeles in 2028.